Westridge Golf Centre moved into an exciting new era with the opening of a new course earlier this month.
32 years on from the original opening of the course, Lord Brabazon returned to hit the first drive on the new holes.
The 9-hole Westridge course has been regularly developed over the years since its original 1993 layout. Through the noughties into the 2010s, the 2nd hole developed a dogleg, holes 3 and 5 were extended, addition tees on the 6th and 8th and some extra bunkers.
The biggest development came late in the noughties, following the improvements of the Driving Range, land was purchased to develop 9 more holes. Initially mooted to open in time for the 2012 Olympics, development was slow.
Design changes were the next thing, with Westridge Green staff taking the lead. Then there was COVID-19, which actually worked to the course’s advantage and work started in haste. With a lot of the basic landscaping done, greens and tee boxes were built and seeded.
The fairways were top soiled in mid-2022 before the weather intervened. Initially too dry to seed, heavy rain early autumn 2022 caused a lot of damage, washing away some top soil and basic structure. Repairs continued, and seeding took place in 2023, but the weather continued to cause issues with suboptimal growing conditions for the new grass.
Late 2024 was pencilled in for opening the new holes, but the grass was still struggling.
Finally, Lord Brabazon, who also opened the slightly more famous course at the Belfry, stood again to hit an opening shot at Westridge and recognise all the hard work by the Westridge Golf Centre team to achieve this milestone.
A 12-hole competition followed, playing all the holes available before 3 old holes are closed as part of the continuing re-development.
87 members and guests, taking a shotgun start, with best 2 stableford scores to count for each team. Winning on 62 points were Jill Prouten, Malcolm Prouten, Roger Merrifield and Shelagh Merrifield.
Sunday saw a charity competition, the Susan Mew Trophy, take place. Sponsored by Cherry Godfrey with Leslies Motors, there was a Hole in One contest, with a car as the Prize. Unfortunately, no one achieved one.
With another strong field, 88 members and guest, playing the course, the competition was won by Louise Webb, Shelagh Merrifield, Jacky Cook and Claire Matejowsky with 96 points. Just over £1,300 was raised for the Mountbatten Hospice.
During Sunday’s Medal Competition, Kim Meguyer achieved a hole-in-one on the 18th Hole.
Westridge Golf Club Results for the week ending 25th May:
16th May, Stableford, Division 1: 1 Steve Hull 36pts, 2 Jeffery Foster 35pts, 3 Pete Holton 34pts OCB. Division 2: 1 Martin Whitehead 40pts, 2 Reg Miller 39pts OCB, 3 Walter Mallinson 39pts.
16th May, 9 Hole Stableford: 1 Ian Couse 20pts, 2 Steve Persechino 18pts OCB, 3 Barbara Sleap 18pts OCB.
17th May, New Course Opening: 1 Jill Prouten, Malcolm Prouten, Shelagh Merrifield and Roger Merrifield 62pts, 2 Martyn Wakefield, Ernie Moore, Roy Rowles and Trevor Gosset 61pts, 3 Reg Miller, Helen Whittaker, Barbara Sleap and Frank Brazier 59pts.
18th May, Susan Mew Trophy: 1 Louise Webb, Shelagh Merrifield, Jacky Cook and Claire Matejowsky 96pts, 2 Tom Moriarty, William Humphries, Steve Hull and Steve Sharp 93pts, 3 Melvyn Probyn, Gary Cass, Peter Dixcey and Steve Persechino 91pts.
21st May, Par: 1 Ollie Kearney 3up OCB, 2 Chris Wilkinson 3up, 3 Trevor Gosset 1up.
23rd 24th May, 9 Hole Stableford: 1 Marc Dempsey 22pts OCB, 2 Claire Matejowsky 22pts, 3 Peter Dixcey 19pts
25th May, Medal: 1 Steve Hull 63 net, 2 Kim Meguyer 65 net, 3 Helen Whittaker 66 net. Division 2: 1 Steve Sansford 67 net, 2 John Moorman 69 net, 3 Peter Dixcey 71 net OCB.
Golf what a great game Mark Twain once said golf a good walk spoilt he obviously didn’t play the game it’s much harder than it looks
I expect Mark Wright wrote this